Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Nice 1920 sold on gunbroker today

Here's one that's a little different, a long action version that was on GunBroker, it either didn't sell or was not sold through GunBroker - gunbroker/item/1002236375

Ledgers don't have any data? Hmm.

Wow! Thx for posting Gene

How many long prototypes action did Savage create?

It has been relisted 3 times it appears.

There has been an occassional mention of a long action model 1920, but I was assuming it was just internet mythology..., are there really 25 "rumored" examples ?? Does anyone have any real provenance for even one long action prototype being made??

This looks pretty legit, it would be real convincing if most of the parts were also serial numbered to match, (and the extractor was full length..), but even the receiver number looks a bit odd, given the embellishment on the butt plate. How many parts would have to be one-off custom made for a long action 1920?; receiver, bolt body, firing pin, bottom metal, stock.. not to mention the tooling for any one of these changes..

I guess I have real skepticism around these parts for any stretch limousines..

Mr. Clark sent a copy of the page in the R&D inventory log showing 5 long action 1920 prototypes; 4 military rifle, 2 in 30-06, 1 each in 7x57 and 303 British, and the sporting rifle that is, or at least was, short chambered in 256 Newton. The sporting rifle is logged by serial number as being chambered in 30-06, but Benenson confirmed to me that it was short chambered in 256 Newton.

I know that Mark Benenson owned the 256 Newton not long after the R&D collection was auctioned off. Benenson and I had done a lot of business and he offered it to me for $1K, but that was during the time that I owned the Cellular company and was eating ramen noodles and hot dogs in order to pay the minimum monthly loan payments to BOA. Mark then sold it to a guy in Texas by the name of John Smyrl and when Smyrl died, his estate asked Bruce Jennings, the Newton collector and book author, to liquidate the guns. Jennings took the long action 256 Newton as payment. When Jennings died, his daughter sold his collection of guns and related stuff. Before Benenson and after Jennings I have no knowledge of where the sporting rifle has been or who owned it. Smyrl wrote a letter to me after Benenson sold him the rifle, telling me how stupid I was for not buying it, basically laughing in my face. That was the beginning of the falling out that I had with Benenson.

One of the biggest buyers at that auction was a Massachusetts dealer by the name of Peter Dowd. He, in turn, sold guns from that auction to J.R. "Lash" LaRue in Portsmouth, NH, and to the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, ME. Kittery Trading Post has advertised the 7x57 and 303 British military style prototypes. I've seen pictures of them, both were rough job shop guns, with the 303 British looking like a MKIII Enfield with a 1920 action, same wood and magazine, but with a safety on the bolt shroud that looked like a First Model Newton.

The rumor about the long action prototypes is that the 30-06 versions were built to sell to the U.S. military to supplement the 1903 Springfield in WW1, the niche that was filled by the 1917 Enfield. The 7x57 rifle was intended for sale to South and Central American countries that were looking to replace their Remington Rolling Block rifles. Most went with Mausers, but one country bought modified Remington 30s, maybe Honduras, as their Model 1934. I would assume that the 303 British rifle was intended to help the British supplement their MKIII Enfield production.

The 1920 is actually a spin off of the long action prototype project. The long action came first and then the short action that was put into production. It makes you wonder why Savage didn't make a long action 1920 in 30-06, since they already had made the U.S. military prototypes.

PS - I have a rubbing of the aluminum trapdoor buttplate that Benenson sent to me when he offered to sell it to me.

Savage made a prototype 30-06 model 99 in the 1930's. It's displayed in the Savage factory showroom. Just another example of Savage experimenting.

Do you recall approximately the year that that auction occurred?

Thanks for posting the provenance of that 256, Jeff.

Now there's another M1920 I'd like to own - a 7x57 prototype.

Don't think I'll need to be breaking my gun buying moratorium any time soon.

.., Yes, impressive, Thank You for sharing

Latest listing for the Newton prototype:

https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/1011732734

Anyone want to start casting or 3D printing custom Savage butt plates?

I was recently married and living in Hanover, NH, at the time, so I'm thinking that the auction was in either 1988 or 1989.

I bought the 1920 and 20/26 rifles that were in the R&D collection from J.R. LaRue, both of which he had purchased from Peter Dowd as confirmed by letters that I received from both Mr. Clark and someone whose name escapes me who worked for Savage.

There still is one of the 22's from the R&D collection listed at 'Collector Firearms' with a picture of the letter, it lists a ship date of April 13, 1988. collectorsfirearms/products/424-savage-1905-prototype

Here's their picture of the letter they have for that gun -

Many of the 22 caliber guns, including that one, were purchased from Peter Dowd by Richard Littlefield who started selling them off about 2010. Not all of the R&D guns had letters with them, they did not have that completed for all when they were sold. I acquired a couple prototype 22 pump's which did not, but have a letter from Mr. Littlefield stating he got them from Mr. Dowd and they were from the R&D collection.

Like that .22 with a hinge! ??

Ok thanks. Doesn't sound like an R&D gun from the 1988 dispersal, although it could have been an R&D gun.
Just trying to determine a "ship date" for #500,001. It's what collectors do!
I do have it narrowed down to between 1960 - 1982. DOM & Roe letter.

LaRue ran a large ad in the GUN LIST that listed dozens of R&D guns. I kept that page in my 1920 binder. When I find the binder and that ad, I'll let Rory scan it, if he wants to, so that everyone can see the R&D guns that LaRue was selling. LaRue didn't have all of the R&D guns, but he had a lot of them. He didn't advertise any of the long action 1920 prototypes, but at least 2 of them passed through Kittery Trading Post and KTP is only a couple of miles from LaRue's shop in Portsmouth, NH, so he might have had them before they got to KTP.

PS - I bought the 99C in 22-250 with SN RD1040 and 24V in 223/20 with SN RD1137 from KTP. On the day that I bought the 99C, there was 99A-BG and a 99DL with RD serial numbers in the same rack. I have been told that the 99DL was the actual prototype in 284. It was a 99DL with a 24" barrel and cut checkering, so it might have been, since Savage never cataloged a 24" 99 in 284.

It was my impression, emphasis on "impression", that all of the firearms sold from the R&D collection were accompanied by a letter like the one shown above and the several that I have seen were all signed by a Savage engineer by the name of Carl Hildebrandt. Some of the letters remained with the guns, as do mine, while some were lost or just discarded by an owner who wasn't interested in maintaining the chain of ownership provenance. When I bought the 1920 and 20/26 from LaRue, he had to look through a stack of those letters that was at least 3" thick to find the two that went with my rifles. If I hadn't specifically asked him for all of the documenation, I probably never would have received it.

PS - I have seen a couple of the Savage letter signed by Carl Hildebrandt that had Peter Dowd's name and address physically cut out of them as if done with a razor blade or Exato knife. Why? I have no idea.

The triggers are exactly the same as 2 stage military triggers. If you cut your teeth on Enfields, Mausers, Krags or 03 Springfields you will undertand how to manage the pull on a 1920/26 Savage. My 20/26 has a definite first stage "take up" and second stage release. And a two stage trigger bolt gun makes total sense give the historical context of the rifle's design and marketing.

You might want to consider a .250 instead. A 1920 in .300 will shiver your timbers with each trigger pull.

I imagine it would! I have a decent 1920 in 250-3000. Mine only has barrel sights. In the hand, it feels like a 22 single shot. A 30 cal bullet leaving that little thing in a hurry would surely be painful to the guy who pulled the trigger. I wouldn't be surprised if cracked stock wrists weren't common on them.
I always considered the 1920 to be "the original mountain rifle".